Breathe No More
by Seine
Summary: She's a reflection, a copy. Not exact, but still only a reincarnation. She thinks she's sick. She doesn't know she's going to get an unexpected visit from her predecessor. Revelations are made. OneSHOT


**Breathe No More**

Seine: Bleh, my computer went KABLOOIE! So I'm stuck typing on this little laptop here...

Inuyasha: So? Deal with it! Seine doesn't own Inuyasha or Breathe no more by Evanescence.

Seine: It's a shame, too...

* * *

_I've been looking in the mirror for so long_

_That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side

* * *

_

She was a copy. A replica, though not exact. He loved the original, not the sloppy second. Those were the only thoughts going through Kagome's head as she waded into the hot spring. The dark water was murky with steam and mist, the rocks dark as obsidian. The rocks cast her own reflection, which wasn't exactly what she wanted to see at the time.

She was alone, or so she thought. After a harsh battle with some hawk demon's, Sango was left injured, and Shippo was with Kaede. That left Kagome completely alone.

* * *

_All the little pieces falling, shattered._

_Shards of me, too sharp to put back together._

_To small to matter..._

_But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces

* * *

_

Her so called reflection was haunting, those hopeless and dead eyes a constant reminder that she was in fact dead. Though he loved her, even though she was dead.

No one knew that Kikyo would shatter under the intense malice Kagome once had for her. But that malice drifted away, replaced by drowning agony over him. How could he love a clay pot? Then again, how could he love a reflection?

* * *

_I try to touch her,_

_And I bleed,_

_I bleed,_

_And I breathe, no more

* * *

_

Was she sick, to mistake his kindness for love? Kagome thought so, she thought she was simply twisted around, backwards. How could he love her while Kikyo existed? And she couldn't kill Kikyo, or cause her death, for he would never forgive her. Perhaps the piece of soul that was missing was truthful compassion, and it died within Kikyo's cold and dead flesh.

The moon was up high now, and the mist swelled around her, clouding her image. She let out a sigh, bringing water up over her shoulders.

* * *

_Take a breath, and I try to draw from my spirit's well_

_Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child_

_Lie to me, convince me that I've been sick forever_

_And all of this will make sense when I get better

* * *

_

Crack.

"Sit!" Kagome cried, immediately notching an arrow in her bow. Nothing, not even a distant thud. " Whoever is there, show yourself!" She called out through the mist, ignoring the breeze against her flesh, ignoring her vunerabilty. She was sick of being weak, sick of being a copy. Sick of being sick.

Yet she nearly dropped her bow when she saw who emerged from the mist. Was her mind playing an odd game of ' Guess who wants to kill you know?' or was the person she saw real.

No. She was real. She was Kikyo. This was not one of things that Kagome wanted to see at this point.

* * *

_I hardly know the difference,_

_Between myself and my reflection _

_I just can't help but to wonder_

_Which of us do you love?

* * *

_

"Lower you bow; I only wish to bathe here." Kagome wearily lowered her bow, and turned around, hastily rubbing in her shampoo. It almost calmed her, the scent of fresh lilacs. Lowered the urge to incapacitate her. She also began to hum, seemed like a good idea to keep the peace. She then heard the splash of Kikyo entering the water.

* * *

_So I bleed...

* * *

_

Kagome recited the song she had heard by Evanescence, the sad tune reflecting her own situation so well. Kagome was again at a level of content peace, until she felt eyes at her back. To divert the chilling feeling, she delved down into the water, rinsing off the shampoo. When she came up, she found that she was facing the wrong way, and was met by a pair of dead brown eyes.

" Oh, um, sorry about that, I uh..." Kagome stuttered, watching as Kikyo took a lock of her hair and felt it.

" It smells of lilacs, such as near the village. And there is no oily feel, what kind of magic is this?" Kagome blinked, and would have burst into uncontrollable laughter, if this wasn't Kikyo.

" It's a product of the future, called shampoo. Here, try some, but don't get it in your eyes or it'll burn. Lather and rinse." Kagome squirted some into Kikyo's hand, and turned around again, using her conditioner. Kagome sighed, and then gathered an amount of courage that few possessed, and turned around.

" Why do you always try to hurt me, or steal the fragments? What have I done to you? It's not my fault you died."

* * *

_I bleed...

* * *

_

Kikyo slowly turned around, and looked Kagome straight in the eye.

" It is simply a test that I conduct to ensure that you have the power to protect Inuyasha from demons, because I will be the only one to slay him. Even if he didn't kill me, my hatred for him is what binds me hear. Or perhaps it's my obsession, the point of which I could difference the two has passed." Kikyo stopped for a moment, and then turned to full face Kagome.

" Looking at you is like looking into a mirror. Except that you breathe, you live. So in a way, that makes me the reflection, doesn't it?" Kikyo preceded to let out a dry laugh, echoing throughout the mist. Kagome shook her head, and let out a sad sigh.

" No, I am the reflection, I'm the reincarnation. Because if you were just a reflection, as I see when I gaze into a mirror, then **he wouldn't love you**." Kagome stated, climbing out of the water and dressing quickly. She dried her raven hair and tucked her supplies back in her yellow backpack. Kagome swung her pack over her shoulder as she heard Kikyo dress, and walked off towards the trees.

* * *

_And I breathe,_

_I breathe...

* * *

_

Twang.

"WAH!" Kagome leapt to the side, avoiding an arrow that shot past her, now lodged in a tree. She looked to where Kikyo once stood, and found she was already gone.

" The nerve of some people! And I let her use my shampoo! I oughta... Hey, what's that?" Kagome pulled off a necklace attached to the arrow, and pulled off the sacred jewel shard. _That's odd, why didn't I sense it before? Must have been too caught up in thought... What a weird woman..._

Kagome looked at her reflection in the pure pink jewel, and smiled. It wasn't Kikyo. It was her. It was Kagome Higurashi, Miko in training!

And she could visibly see, she was breathing.

* * *

_No more...

* * *

_

_Owari_


End file.
